US Mint FY2024 Annual Report

For nearly two decades, the cost to the United States Mint to strike and distribute Lincoln cents and Jefferson 5-cent coins for commercial circulation has exceeded the face values for both denominations.

The cost to produce and distribute Lincoln cents and Jefferson 5-cent coins for commercial circulation exceeded the face values for both denominations in Fiscal Year 2024, continuing a trend that has persisted for nearly two decades, according to the United States Mint’s Annual Report for Fiscal Year 2024.

The FY2024 production and related costs for a copper-plated zinc Lincoln cent to reach circulation reached 3.69 cents per coin, compared to 3.07 cents in FY2023 and 2.72 cents in FY2022.

FY2024 ran from Oct. 1, 2023, through Sept. 30, 2024, according to the report.

The unit cost for producing and distributing copper-nickel Jefferson 5-cent coins during FY2024 totaled 13.78 cents per coin, compared to 11.54 cents in FY2023 and 10.41 cents in FY2022.

The 5-cent coin is struck on planchets composed of a homogeneous alloy of 75% copper and 25% nickel. The Roosevelt dime, American Women quarter dollars and Kennedy half dollars are all produced using the same copper-nickel clad planchets, having outer layers of 75% copper and 25% nickel bonded to a core of pure copper.

No manganese-brass clad American Innovation and Native American $1 coins struck with a circulation quality finish are released at face value into circulation through the Federal Reserve. They are offered only as numismatic products, priced at premiums that cover all production costs.

The Federal Reserve has placed orders to receive circulation quality Kennedy half dollars to satisfy requests from some banks nationwide, but the coin has relatively low circulation and most are sold as numismatic products.

Production and associated costs for Roosevelt dimes during FY2024 reached 5.76 cents, compared with 5.3 cents during FY2023 and 5.03 cents in FY2022.

Production and associated costs for the American Women quarter dollars reached 14.68 cents in FY2024, against 11.63 cents in FY2023 and 11.11 cents in FY2022.

Half dollar production and related costs totaled 33.97 cents per half dollar in FY2024, against 25.98 cents in FY2023 and 17.15 cents in FY2022.

Metals acquisitions costs cause the bulk of the increases, according to the report.

Lincoln cents are struck on ready-to-strike planchets fabricated in Greeneville, Tennessee, by Artazn LLC, once known as Jarden Zinc Products.

All other circulating coinage denominations are struck at the Denver and Philadelphia Mints on blanks punched on multi-ton rolls of coinage strip purchased from manufacturers Olin Brass of East Alton, Illinois, and PMX Corp. of Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

The blanks are fashioned into finished planchets at the Mints as the rough edges are deburred, the blanks are annealed in heat furnaces to soften the metal, and the pieces are run through the upset mill which forms the raised rims that define a planchet. Rims assist in restraining the metal flow as the planchet is struck within collar dies that impart a plain or reeded edge, depending on denomination, at the same time as the obverse and reverse dies strike to impart the coin’s designs.

Seigniorage

Seigniorage for circulating coins refers to the difference between the production and related costs and a coin’s face value, the price the Federal Reserve bank pays to buy it. Seigniorage is carried on the Mint’s books as profit.

Negative seigniorage of $85.3 million was recorded in FY2024 for the Lincoln cent, compared to a negative $86 million in FY2023 and a negative $93 million in FY 2022.

Seigniorage for the 5-cent denomination was a negative $17.7 million in FY2024, negative $92.6 million in FY2023 and negative $78 million in FY2022.

For dimes, FY2024 seigniorage was positive, at $35.6 million for FY2024; $125.5 million in FY2023; and $141.6 million in FY2022.

Positive seigniorage for quarter dollars for FY2024 totaled $165.6 million;  $304 million in FY2023; and $337.1 million in FY